Ok…so this is my favorite vegan pad Thai recipe! I know you’re going to love it just as much as I do!
Where do I even begin with pad Thai…
It’s one of my all-time favorite dishes in the world.
I’ve traveled to Thailand 3 times now, but I think it was on my second trip to Thailand that I really tried every pad Thai I could get my hands on and fell in love with the dish.
I remember my first Pad Thai I had in Thailand. It was at a random restaurant in Bangkok with plastic tablecloths and Buddha statues. The dish itself cost only 2$, (can you believe it?) and it was delicious!
From there my Pad Thai adventures continued and I always found myself on the hunt for the best Pad Thai I could find in Thailand!
What is Pad Thai?
Pad Thai is a traditional, stir-fried noodle dish served in Thailand. It’s commonly served as street-food, or in restaurants all throughout Thailand. One of my favourite experiences was learning how to cook an authentic Pad Thai in Thailand. I’ve taken a couple cooking classes there and was able to learn the proper way to make this dish. Though it’s traditionally made with egg, fish sauce, and an option of chicken or shrimp, This vegan Pad Thai still packs all the best flavors without using any of those ingredients.
Thai food is all about finding a balance between sweet, salty, sour, spicy. This is the ultimate secret behind great Thai food. In Thailand, they use a lot of palm sugar and fish sauce in most of their recipes.
What about making Pad Thai vegan?
Despite normally incorporating animal products, when making Thai food at home, you can achieve this same taste. For the sweet element, you can use a sticky syrup maple syrup or agave. For salty, soy sauce is generally the way to go. For the sour part, lime, and for spicy, chillies.
Pad Thai features all these different flavours which is what makes the dish SO delicious!
After coming home from Thailand, my love for Pad Thai always grows stronger. I would feel so inspired to take trips to the local Asian market where I could find authentic Thai ingredients, and start making the dish at home. This was also followed by many pad Thai dinners, lunches and even midnight snacks.
I think that’s why the dish holds such a special place in my heart. Besides the fact that it’s delicious, Pad Thai brings back so many happy memories for me.
Eating pad Thai at the cutest little restaurant in Chiang Mai Thailand, cooking up giant plates of Pad Thai for dinner back home (that I could barely finish), and staying up late watching movies and making late-night pad Thai for snacks.
No matter which memory it triggers, anytime I smell and taste the dish I remember these moments in time. Moments filled with happiness.
It’s the ultimate comfort food for me in that sense. It has the ability to remind me of all the good in my life, and in my past. All the moments I’m so grateful to have experienced. And even if those moments are gone, I know they will always still be there with me when I take my first bite into a big plate of my favorite vegan Pad Thai.
Let’s break down my favorite vegan pad Thai recipe:
This recipe starts by cooking up the tofu in a pan with some oil. Once the tofu is cooked, it gets pushed off to the side (so it’s off the heat) and the noodles go in the pan. This is a cooking technique I learned in cooking class in Thailand. After the noodles, seasoning and sauce goes in, everything gets tossed up together and served with crushed peanuts and lime. Pad Thai is BEST served immediately after cooking, so it’s not a dish you want to leave sitting around for 10-15 minutes on the stove. Eat it right away.
This recipe is for my favorite vegan Pad Thai. Some of the ingredients have been altered from the more “traditional” Pad Thai, (to make it vegan-friendly) but the flavors are still authentic and delicious!
Here are some more of my favorite Thai recipes on the blog:
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Thanks for checking out my favourite vegan pad thai! I know you will love it as much as me!
Ingredients
- 1/2 pack rice noodles (approx 7oz)
- 1/2 brick tofu, cut into small cubes
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup-1/2 cup water
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 large handful garlic chives (can sub regular chives)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp palm sugar (can sub agave syrup, maple syrup, or honey for vegetarian)
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1 green onion, chopped
- crushed peanuts & lime for serving
Instructions
- Boil the rice noodles in a pot of water until tender, but not too soft. (They should have a bit to them still.)
- Drain and set aside.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat. Add the tofu and cook on each side until golden brown.
- Push the tofu to the side of the pan, turn heat to medium, and add the garlic and noodles, and garlic chives to the pan.
- Add the soy sauce, palm sugar, and lime juice.
- Slowly add some water to the pan, 1-2 tbsp at a time, to prevent noodles from sticking, and allowing them to cook more.
- Turn heat to low and add the bean sprouts and green onion to the pan and mix together.
- Top your pad thai with crushed peanuts and a lime wedge to serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 265
- Sugar: 6g
- Fat: 15g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 26g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 8g
Keywords: vegan pad thai, how to make pad thai, vegan thia recipe
Tips & suggestions:
- Depending on how much rice noodles you use, you may need to adjust the seasoning a bit. Taste and add more soy sauce and palm sugar as needed.
- Try mixing it up and adding 2 tbsp of peanut butter to this dish to make it a peanut butter pad Thai!
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Pad Thai is such a comforting and spicy dish, which I ADORE! This recipe does look beautiful. I am so jealous you went to Thailand! But I am most certain you had the time of your life there!
Hi Cassie! Thank you so much! I totally agree comforting and spicy is the best! I hope you can make your way to Thailand one day:)
You are making me so hungry with this Pad Thai! Love your vegan version of this dish. I could eat rice noodles all day long 🙂 Oh, and that plate is so beautiful!
Thanks Nisha! and same here! I could eat this every day!
So delicious Jess! Such a comforting spicing creation. Amazing that your travels influence your recipes, so creative of you! Thanks for sharing! Dee xx
★★★★★
Thanks Dee! One of my favorite parts about traveling is all the amazing inspiration you can draw on for new dishes:)
Pad Thai is also my all-time favorite dish in the world, I love Pad Thai ?. I also saw the recipe the Life Changing Peanut Butter Noodles and these look so good too, can’t wait to make them. Looking forward to following along and trying all these yummy recipes! Eating pad thai at a local restaurant in Thailand sounds so yum, gosh ?.
Hi Ana, that’s awesome! Isn’t bad just the best? I love how fast it is to make. Hope you get to experience eating some in Thailand as well:)
Forgot to rate the recipe! 😀
★★★★★